


I'm Coming To Get You

by DisguisedasInnocent



Series: Ways to Say 'I love you' [83]
Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 23:09:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisguisedasInnocent/pseuds/DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: Casey Gardner hates many things. She hates the way that her Mum pries into her private life. She hates the way that people look down on her brother before beingdifferent. She hates the way that Izzie flinches sometimes when she touches her unexpectedly.However, above all else, Caseyhatesthe helplessness she feels when, in the middle of the night, her phone rings and it's Izzie's face that appears on the screen.
Relationships: Casey Gardner/Izzie
Series: Ways to Say 'I love you' [83]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/326042
Comments: 6
Kudos: 315





	I'm Coming To Get You

“Case…” 

It was a single word.

A single, barely audible, word.

It was a single, barely audible, word that dripped of sadness and desperation and it splintered Casey’s heart into a thousand tiny shards.

It wasn’t the way that Izzie’s wrapped around her name, delicately and precisely, or the breathless way that it slipped out of Izzie’s mouth that broke Casey’s heart.

It was the crack.

The creak.

The crumble.

It was the way that Izzie’s breathing stuttered high in her chest that squeezed Casey’s heart in an invisible vice.

“Izzie…” Casey whispered—whimpered—breathlessly as she clutched her phone against her ear. “What’s wrong Baby?”

“Can,” Izzie’s voice trembled, wavered, and Casey heard the way that her normally confident tongue stumbled, “Can you come get me?”

“Yes.” Casey promised, her eyes already searching the messy expanse of her floor for a pair of shoes—any pair of shoes—to pull onto her feet. “Where are you Baby?”

“The track.” Izzie replied in a tone that made Casey’s stomach lurch uncomfortably.

“Stay there.” Casey implored, her voice firm but gentle, as she tugged at the laces of an old pair of running shoes and scrambled to drag a jacket onto her shoulders. “I’m coming to get you, just… Stay right there, OK?”

“OK.” Izzie whispered. “Please, please hurry?”

“Of course, Baby.” Casey vowed gently. “I’ll be right there. I swear. Just, just stay on the phone with me, OK?”

“I didn’t know…” Izzie began, her words tripping over one another as her tongue fumbled in her mouth. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“No, no, Baby,” Casey whispered as she bit the inside of her cheek to suppress the urge to cry, “you did the right thing, calling me, you did the right thing.”

“I couldn’t stop him…” A messy sob swallowed Izzie’s words and gurgled them out of her mouth as an incomprehensible muddle of consonants and vowels.

“It’s going to be OK.” Casey promised as she rushed down the stairs—one step, two steps, three steps at a time—and snatched a set of keys off the kitchen counter. “I’m coming Baby, I’ll be there soon. I swear.”

“Newton,” Izzie’s voice wavered and crackled as she spoke, “please hurry.”

“I will.” Casey whispered as she wrenched the front door open and ignored the sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs.

~

“Izzie,” Casey called out as she nudged the door of her father’s truck closed, “I’m here. I’m here Baby.”

“Hey, Newton…” Izzie murmured as she stood from the bench. 

Casey’s head snapped sideways toward the sound of Izzie’s voice. “Izzie,” Casey breathed out in quiet relief. “There you are.”

“Here I am.” Izzie agreed, and Casey watched as the corners of her lips attempted to curl upward into a smile but failed.

“Come here Iz.” Casey whispered as she spread her arms and waited for Izzie to step forward into her embrace. “I’ve got you.”

“I just had to get away,” Izzie mumbled, her voice muffled by Casey’s shoulder, as she fisted her hands in the back of Casey’s hoodie. “She… They… I couldn’t…”

“I know Baby,” Casey said as she rubbed her hand up and down the length of Izzie’s spine soothingly, “You don’t have to explain. I’m here.”

“They were yelling.” Izzie continued, almost as if she hadn’t heard Casey’s speak, as she pressed her face into Casey’s shoulder. “I don’t—I don’t know why—but he woke the baby and I couldn’t get her to calm down.”

“Oh,” Casey felt her heart lurch in her chest at the way that Izzie’s voice trembled.

“I told Jackson and Avery to get their bags,” Izzie said, “I always… I always make sure they have a bag packed just in case… just in case we have to leave.”

“I know.” Casey turned her head to press a soft kiss to Izzie’s temple. “I know Baby.” 

“I got them all into the car,” Izzie continued haltingly, “I just… I had to go back for Luna’s bag—Grandma doesn’t… Grandma doesn’t always have extra formula, you know?”

“It’s OK.” Casey murmured, her voice soft and understanding, as she rubbed soothing circles into the small of Izzie’s back.

“He must have stomped off somewhere, but Mum… Mum was still there.” Izzie swallowed hard and pressed her face deeper into Casey’s shoulder. “She… She was right next to Luna’s bag, and… and she tried to stop me taking it. She said, she said it wasn’t necessary. That it was over. But… But I could still hear him! He was still yelling… and throwing things.”

“Oh Baby…” Casey’s jaw clenched as a hot bolt of anger settled deep in her stomach. “Are you… Did she…?”

“I grabbed the bag.” Izzie murmured in an almost deadened tone that sent shivers down Casey’s spine, “And… She swung at me. She had… She had a bottle in her hand, and it smashed… And she just kept swinging.” 

“Izzie…” Casey’s voice stuttered and wavered as she tightened her arms around Izzie’s small frame. “I’m so, so, so sorry Baby. You don’t… You don’t deserve any of that.”

“I just… I just waited,” Izzie mumbled, “and… and when he came back, I just ran. I just… ran.”

“Good.” Casey said with a soft growl. “You… You shouldn’t have to put up with that Izzie, any of it, your parents are meant to protect you. Not… Not hurt you.” 

“I just couldn’t go home.” Izzie swayed back and tipped her head up to meet Casey’s eyes. “I just… I needed to see you.” 

“That place is not your home.” Casey said as she lifted her hand to cradle Izzie’s cheek in her palm. “But you know you can stay with me any time you need to Iz; you don’t even need to ask.” 

“I didn’t know if that offer still stood.” Izzie mumbled nervously as she leant into Casey’s comforting touch. “Now that we’re… I didn’t know if your Mum would still…”

“She will.” Casey promised as she bent her head to press a soft kiss to Izzie’s lips. “She—we—just want you to be safe Iz. My home is your home, whenever you need it.” 

“I…” Izzie let her eyes slip closed in quiet relief as she sank back into Casey’s arms. “Can we go home?”

“Yes,” Casey breathed out softly, “yes, we can.” 

~

“What the _hell_ do you think you’ve been up to young lady!” Izzie flinched underneath Casey’s protective arm as the distinctive, and angry, sound of Elsa Gardner washed over her ears. “You can’t just disappear without a word in the middle of the night!”

“I’m sorry Mum.” Casey said as she drew Izzie closer. “It was important.” 

“What in the world could be so important—” Elsa exclaimed with an angry growl only for her jaw to snap shut on the rest of her sentence as she strode out of the kitchen and saw Izzie’s trembling form curled under Casey’s protective arm. “Oh… Oh Darling…”

“I had to.” Casey said.

“Yes,” Elsa’s mumbled, her eyes flickering back and forth between Casey’s fury filled brown eyes and Izzie’s tear stained cheeks, “yes, of course, do you… Do you need anything now Honey?”

“Baby?” Casey asked softly as she rubbed her thumb soothingly against Izzie’s hip. “Do you need anything?”

“No,” the dark-haired girl croaked out, “no, thank you.” 

“OK,” Elsa frowned, “well, the two of you had better head to bed. It is a school night after all.” 

“I know.” Casey said with a long sigh. “Come on Iz, I’ll get you out my softest shirt, it’s even better than that red one.” 

“I’m not sure that’s possible.” Izzie replied with a small stumbling chuckle. “That shirt was pretty good.” 

“Nah,” Casey drawled playfully, “this one is like being hugged by a cloud—it’s amazing.”

“A cloud?” Izzie’s eyebrow quirked up. “That does sound good…”

~

“Casey,” Izzie’s voice barely pierced the ambient silence of the room when she spoke, but the softness of her tone sent pleasant shivers down Casey’s spine.

Casey lay in silence for a moment, enjoying the weight of Izzie’s head on her chest, before she hummed in acknowledgement. “What’s up?”

“Thank you,” Izzie murmured and lifted her head to look up into Casey’s soft brown eyes, “for coming to get me.” 

“You don’t have to thank me for that Iz.” Casey replied as she reached out with her free hand to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind Izzie’s ear. “Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, if you need me, I’m there.”

“I…” Izzie’s cheeks flushed, and her pearly white teeth dug into her bottom lip nervously for a split second before a contented sigh escaped her lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Casey replied softly, but confidently.

Izzie’s eyes danced across Casey’s face, memorising the soft contours of her features, before she lifted her body, bent her head, and pressed her mouth to Casey’s lips. “I love you,” Izzie repeated, her words breathed out into the kiss, as she let herself be swept away in the comforting warmth of Casey’s body.


End file.
